Cell phones and Relationships

1305 Words3 Pages

“Can you remember the last time you were in a public space in America and didn’t notice that half the people around you were bent over a digital screen, thumbing a connection to somewhere else?” (Fredrickson, 2013, pg. 1). In a world today where sending a text message containing the message “I luv you,” is equally powerful to that statement said in person to your significant other. Today’s generation is surrounded by the constant need to have technology and mainly cell phones at your fingertips. Gone are the days when people would talk to one another whilst standing in line, now it is all about having and using your cell phone to pass the time. All of this takes bondage on having an interpersonal relationship with each other and conversing face-to-face. Mainly, cell phones are a handicap to this and they inhibit the ability for a male to communicate with a female or vice versa, leading to the foreign territory of intimate relationships. The main reaction to this is saying that technology has shaped this motive and texting is a way of life. One can beg to differ saying that there just needs to be a new understanding of when, where and how much a cell phone is used around other people. This understand standing starts with coming up close and personal with why it happens. It can be said that this boils down to it being a physical distraction, emotional distraction, and a handicap to society’s ability to have interpersonal communication. A leading force is today’s technology driven world and that if the latest device is not in your possession then it is in sense a wrong doing. This is not as much of a major concern, the concern is the lack of personal sufficiency when without your device for the smallest amount of time. In the survey... ... middle of paper ... ...trieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/better-living-technology/201308/rules-romantic-relationships-put-phone-down. Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Your phone vs. your heart. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com. Galvan, V., Golloy, M. & Vessal, R. (2013). The effects of cell phone conversations on the attention and memory of bystanders. PLoS ONE, 8(3), 1-11. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058579. Mobile Mindset Study. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.lookout.com/resources/reports/mobile-mindset. Przybylski, A. K. & Weinstein N. (2012). Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(3), 238-246. doi: 10.1177/0265407512453827.

Open Document